


So I'm Gonna Give All My Secrets Away

by hopespym



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, I'm Bad At Tagging, Light Angst, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Strangers to Lovers, i have no idea tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-08-25 23:17:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16670275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopespym/pseuds/hopespym
Summary: it's past midnight here so i'm sorry if this doesn't make much sense! timezones are a thing and i didn't want to wait for a beta to wake up oopsif there's good feedback i might add more to this?





	So I'm Gonna Give All My Secrets Away

**Author's Note:**

> it's past midnight here so i'm sorry if this doesn't make much sense! timezones are a thing and i didn't want to wait for a beta to wake up oops  
> if there's good feedback i might add more to this?

When you reveal your biggest secret, you get clues to find your soulmate.

The clues being their full name and current location appearing like a tattoo somewhere on their body. That's just how it's always been. 

Tell your biggest secret, find your soulmate, boom, love. White picket fence, the kids in the back and everything.

Of course, if only one of the pair chose to tell then that one person would have to convince the other that yes, they were soul mates indeed rather than just being some random stranger. Some people don't believe in the whole concept of soulmates, but you would digress. 

Some don't even care and would rather be alone, even after seeing the others tattoo.

In all honesty, it’s a strange and flawed system and it all depended on the person at hand. Some children were taught to not ever care, to just go against the system and fall for whoever they wanted. Others were taught to share their secret as soon as they could and then go live their happily ever after.

Not all happily ever afters were happy though, and violence between soulmates still occurred. Fighting was part of human nature though, the ugly side that everyone tried to turn a blind eye to until it either happened to them or someone they loved.

It was a flawed system, remember?

 

Clint had always tried to be a nice boy.

Right from day one he did everything that was needed , or whatever his brother deemed they needed, and hardly ever complained about it. Though having an abusive dad and then running away to the circus with his only family left sure did put a spanner the works for that morality.

Some things he did was because it  _ was _ needed for survival, but when he was starting to see his brother changing, becoming more and more influenced by the false need for more, he hadn’t gone down the same path. 

Tried not to anyhow. He still wasn’t sure how well he was doing on that matter.

"I’m gonna find my soulmate, Barney." His brother had merely scoffed at him.

“What, you’re leaving?”

Clint didn’t reply. When he thought about it he wasn’t really sure why he’d even mentioned it to Barney.

His parents had been soulmates and seeing how that worked out had been enough to turn Barney’s mind off of the idea of even attempting to find his. He had never held back his opinions on the matter, especially when he found out that Clint still lived in hope of one day finding his.

_ “I need at least some hope living like this!” _

So yeah. 

Maybe he didn’t always say the right things, and maybe his brother wasn’t as far off of their dad as he thought, but he was still his brother and Clint still loved him - no matter how many times he had tried not to.

“You got a mark?” His brothers voice was gruff, disbelieving.

“Yeah.” 

"Well what was the big secret then?" Clint shrugged, no way in hell was he letting Barney near either the mark or his secret.

"S'why they call it a secret, yeah?"

The conversation ended after that, but lately their conversations hadn’t been all that insightful anyhow. They just weren’t going down the same road anymore.

When Barney left with the others on the next job, Clint left as well, money, clothes, anything else he thought he needed and id stashed away in a bag that should have been too small to fit it all.

 

Bucky, on the other hand, wasn't always as good.

Being shipped from home to home as a child hadn't helped either. It made him more rugged, harder walls to get over and heightened his insecurities.

Fuck no was he giving up a secret to find his supposed  _ soulmate _ or whatever the buzz was. He saw all of his friends moving on from the hump and dump stage and moving onto real relationships, but Bucky remained persistent on the fact that just because he would find his ‘soulmate’ wouldn’t mean his problems were all magically erased. Like one person could have such a big impact.

He honestly felt like he would be happiest if he was left alone.

He just hoped to the low pits of hell that some idiot wasn't wasting their time looking for him or they’d be surely disappointed. Bucky was sure to disagree and run until he couldn't hide anymore from his responsibilities in that area. 

After all, that's what all of his host parents did by sending him away time and time again. It was the lifestyle he had grown accustomed to, and so he learned to never unpack his bags fully.

He was sure he wasn’t even that bad as a child, he always tried his hardest to be good, but when you come to expect something, you learned to just hurry the process along.

Even now as an adult, Bucky had been living in his own flat for three years and he still had unopened boxes and never brought anything unless needed. 

Even in his job, where he had been working for coming on five years, he left his place completely empty, unlike most other employees who had trashed half of their house in the small cupboards dotted around their offices. 

Bucky didn't trust anything. Tried not to.

But it didn't bother anyone around him, the only thing that bothered them was that Bucky would never allow someone to use his cupboard even though he never used it. But otherwise he was quite liked by his fellow staff as when he first got the job he hadn't completely given up on hope quite yet and was friendly, so he made friends quite quickly. 

Now though, he couldn't give a crap.

He sighed as he looked at the clock, finding that he only had two minutes before he was off work and so started packing away some office supplies, chatting with a friend of his before letting out a small huff of relief and slinging his bag over his shoulder, nodding in goodbye to some other colleagues as he passed them on his way out the door. He didn’t bother staying back to talk to anyone tonight.

Bucky pulled his hair back into a bun at the base of his neck and pulled a plain black beanie on over that, hoping to get a little warmth from the cold that was consuming the weather lately. He sighed and saw the gust of white leave his lips, a fake portrayal of smoke, almost the exact same way his cigarettes did.

The pitiful amount of snow on the ground made him roll his eyes before he bumped into someone who seemed in a haste, "Watch where you're going." 

Bucky nodded his head quickly, not even bothering to point out that the other was the one in the wrong, muttering a small  _ "sorry"  _ before he continued walking away, not even looking at the person, yet when he looked back he saw black hair and muttered  _ "dick"  _ before adjusting his beanie with a little sigh and continuing on.

Clint on the other hand hadn't a clue what he was doing. He was at the town square, in Brooklyn, in the midst of sleet and he knew not one damn person. It’s not like he wasn’t used to being the unknown person and having no friends, but he’d just set his hopes too high.

Again. Just like Barney was always yelling at him about.

He rubbed his hands together, trying to keep them warm, and started walking back to the flat he had managed to find a room in, knowing his roommate, a kinda scary woman called Natasha, would be waiting. Though he was apprehensive at first, no woman should have that many knives - seriously, they managed to get off on the right foot and she hadn’t looked twice when Clint said he hadn’t managed to find a job yet but had enough money to pay a couple months rent.

At the exact same time both of the men locked eyes, Clint's eyes widening at the sense of  _ home, safety  _ that he struck right to his core and Bucky paused again, stuck in the moment for some reason he couldn’t comprehend other than it was important and he couldn’t move and-

Bucky heard a cough behind him and looked away from Clint's gaze,

And they walked right past each other

 

Clint's thoughts all revolved around those blue eyes.

He had no idea who they belonged to, but he needed to find out, and soon… For some reason. 

He had gotten home and told Natasha about it, who simply rolled her eyes, patted Clint's back lightly once and left the room. Clint didn't mind as he watched her go, he wasn’t really expecting her to have some kind of revelation for him, and he knew that with his mind in a daze like this he wouldn't be able to contribute to intellectual conversation.

Slinking off to his own room he collapsed on his single bed not that long later and sighed, small smile on his face as he thought about the man. 

How could one person have such nice eyes? How could one person, from a contact that brief, make him feel so safe? 

Call him cheesy, but he wouldn't deny it. 

He felt like this whole situation was meant to be a romantic comedy of some sort. I mean, small town circus boy leaves his hometown in search of his unknown love? Basically the plot of every Nicholas Sparks movie ever made. Add in the fact that he was deaf and that’s a signed movie deal.

He hoped they’d have someone good playing him at least.

He let out another sigh, checking the time on his phone and seeing it was nearing ten o'clock and Clint was showing signs of tiredness already and decided that sleep was the best option for him. He couldn’t tell if this was his normal tiredness, and he got started thinking about how much coffee he’d had, or if it was the exhaustion of the encounter.

Whatever it was, he pulled the blankets tighter around his body and let out a content sigh as Bucky, back in his own flat, turned the heater on, trying to get all the warmth he could. 

One more reason why he hated the Christmas season was because it was so awfully cold and Bucky could barely afford a good heater already. He hated to admit it but he had a fear of using hotties, fearing that during his sleep they would explode and burn him, leaving permanent scars. Whether it was because of a weird documentary he had watched late one night or his subconscious trying to ruin his life, he never went near them.

It was one of his absurd fears, that of which he seemed to have too many, but he dealt with it as he was starting to get a bit too hot under about five blankets and a heater turned all the way on. 

Bucky leaned back, pressing up against the wall and closed his eyes, letting out a sigh. He started thinking about life, and looking around his flat, which was far too big for just one person, he decided that  _ maybe  _ life wouldn't be worse with someone to share it with. 

And yeah, maybe that train of thought had come from the weird interaction he’d had, but it was something that was constantly on his mind. His best friend Steve had no qualm in pointing out how much better he’d probably feel if he’d just bite the bullet and meet  _ someone _ if not his ‘soulmate.’

Turning off the heater and shuffling down the bed he closed his eyes and tried to sleep. 

Bucky had always wanted kids anyway, he thought as he started to drift off, so it wasn't like he was  _ completely  _ heartless, he was just careful.

Just in a slight aggressive way

 

The next day Bucky didn't have work. 

He didn’t really have any idea of what to do with himself as he mainly just… Went to work and back home. He had friends who he could make plans with, yes, but he didn't like to be too much of a bother and he already saw most of them at his work, so he stuck to just walking around and looking for things he could potentially buy one day, coming up with uses for some of the weirder things he managed to find.

Window shopping, they called it.

Bucky decided to get some coffee first and walked into his usual cafe, Coffee Barn. The blond behind the counter smiled at Bucky, they had somewhat become friends as Bucky came to this place at least once a day, "'Ello Bucky, usual?"

"Yeah, thanks Dex." Bucky handed over the money and in exchange got his usual drink of plain black coffee a few minutes later, something to get him awake and at least the slightest bit ready for the day, "I'll see you later man, 'ave a good day." Bucky smiled once more and nodded, leaving Dex behind and stepped out into the cold, taking small sips of his drink, trying to decide on where he wanted to go first.

After a couple minutes of deciding he threw away his cup and went into the first store he found, not really knowing what he was doing, not that he ever knew. Clint on the other hand was furiously tugging a shirt over his head, checking himself over in the mirror once more before saying a simple  _ 'bye Nat'  _ , who was too awake for Clint’s liking, waving in reply as she took another bite of toast, continuing to read the paper.

Clint had had a dream.

Not one like Martin Luther King, but a dream of some sorts anyhow. He couldn't make sense of most of the things that had happened but he knew he had to find the man that had been wrapped up in his thoughts from the previous day. 

And he needed to find him as soon as possible.

Though, with Clint’s ‘luck’ and combined lack of knowledge of anything in Brooklyn, he didn’t manage to find the man until late that night by some miracle.

Bucky was walking home, another drink of the same coffee in his hand and he was sipping away at it calmly, enjoying the scenery. Maybe Christmas wasn’t  _ that _ bad, he thought as he looked up at the snow on the trees.

He heard a bird squawk behind him and turned around almost dropping his drink and running away when he saw someone running his way. Wide eyes, he almost screamed or something of that sorts, but he was frozen and was soon pulled into the embrace of the man, blonde hair peeking out from under the beanie he wore.

No one was around as not many people went through this part of the park as it was haunted or some people got shot there or something like that, but the scenery was nice, so hardly anyone would hear Bucky if he had screamed anyway, "Are you James Buchanan Barnes?" 

Bucky looked the man up and down, taking a small step back, feeling a loss of control over the situation and a defensive frown forming on his face, "Who the hell are you?"

His voice came out harsh but unlike anyone else, the boy in front of him didn't flinch, though a small, defiantly nervous, smile found a home on his face. 

This was obviously make or break for him, "Oh, sorry, sorry, I got a little bit excited. My name's Clint, Clint Barton." Bucky looked at the stranger's hand that was outstretched and shook it suspiciously, still wondering what the hell was happening.

"Great, well, good for you... Goodbye..."

"I’m your soulmate.”

 

Bucky turned over, a small sigh escaping his lips. He opened his eyes and groaned as he saw the sunlight, closing his eyes again as he was temporarily blinded by the rays. He turned over and shuffled closer to the body beside him, letting out a sleepy mumble, "You left the curtains open again, dick." 

In response he felt an arm come to rest around his waist as the other man tried to get get them both into a comfortable position again. Bucky wasn’t expecting a reply though, he knew Clint couldn’t hear without his aids in and so he grumbled to himself a little more.

He knew they couldn’t stay in bed all day though and kissed the man's cheek, removing the arm from his waist and getting out of the bed. He reached over and grabbed the hearing aids, pressing them into Clint’s palm and closing his hand before pulling on clothes and getting dressed. 

Thanking his lucky stars, he remembered that he didn't have work, otherwise he would have been very late. He blamed the other for that though, it was his stupid idea to have a movie marathon anyway. Apparently Cop Dogs was more important than getting the money to pay for what they watched it on.

"You look cute with your hair like that." Bucky looked towards his bed and blushed as he self-consciously ran a hand through his hair that had haphazardly been shoved back into a bun, "Shut up Clint,” he grumbled, “Get ready, we're meeting Nat and Steve for lunch, remember?"

"New plan, you go and I'll sleep."

Bucky rolled his eyes with a fond smile and simply left the room, knowing that Clint would soon follow no matter how tired he was. Bucky started making breakfast for the two, which was just a bowl of cornflakes because let's face it, Bucky couldn't cook to save his life. Just as he predicted Clint came walking into the room, pulling one of his shirts over his head and smiled, kissing Bucky's cheek before sliding onto one of the breakfast stools, "I'm up, you happy?"

"Mhm." Bucky and Clint had a quiet breakfast and Bucky found himself staring at Clint, smile on his face. He hadn't exactly believed Clint when Clint had told him that they were soulmates, he more laughed at him, patted his shoulder and told him he was crazy before trying to walk away. 

It took a bit for Clint to get Bucky's number, and only after Clint had shown him his tattoo, and the two hadn’t stopped texting since that moment. 

It had been about three years since that incident, but both remembered it perfectly. It was a strange meeting, especially from Bucky’s end, but they found it suited their relationship quite well. 

Clint was much more of a disaster than Bucky could ever have anticipated, but it felt nice to have someone to take care of - and even if Clint whinged more than he thanked, Bucky knew he appreciated it. 

They had taken their time with a lot of the relationship though. Sure, they kissed after the first date, but the first date happened a couple of months after they met. They had both built up walls, so it had taken a while for those to come down, but both showed endless patience with the other.

Sometimes during a fight Clint would suddenly get quiet, his subconscious thinking that Bucky was going to treat him like his dad had treated his mum if he continued to fight back. Or sometimes Bucky started freaking out and thinking that Clint was going to abandon him like he had become so used to. They both had issues to work through and they were never going to be completely resolved, but with the other by their side they became stronger.

They supposed that even though they took their time with things, they weren’t exactly subtle with the wanting. Sure, they had decided to wait it out, to get to know each other before they eloped or whatever, but it didn’t mean they could help their feelings. 

Clint fell, and boy did he fall fast. He had left his whole life behind in search of Bucky, so he knew that when he did find him, it would have only been a matter of time. Clint remembers sitting across from Bucky as they got coffee a couple of days after their first meeting. 

He hadn’t ever really taken account of what Bucky really looked like in full - too taken up on the fact that  _ holy shit, this was his soulmate.  _ He recognised that Bucky was scruffy on the outside, cleaned up just enough for work, but he seemed to constantly be sporting a 5 o’clock shadow and hair that went just past his shoulders. Some might have scrunched of their noses and turned the other cheek or tried to get him to clean up, by Clint would be a liar if he said he didn’t find the roughness admirable.

The other man was truly not here to try be anyone but himself without shame.

He also hadn’t minded anything about Clint - from the circus background to the hearing aids, Bucky had never once indicated that Clint was ‘less’ for the life he had endured and the things he hadn’t done. Clint didn’t make Bucky feel bad about his unusual fears or his insecurities though - something Bucky had dealt with a lot in his life.

They made each other feel completely safe, and if they looked at each other like there was no one else in the world, well… 

Steve could shove off, that was for sure.

 

Bucky heaved a small sigh as he dropped into the chair. Clint was sprawled across their bed in the room over, but Bucky was too restless to sleep. He needed to do something first, to see if it was real.

He rubbed his hands over his face, letting out a little groan. This was stupid - so fucking stupid. Why was he doing this again? He was 99% sure it wasn’t going to work, so why try?

His hands dropped from his face and he looked down at his bare wrist. That was it though, wasn’t it. The funny thing.

He was 99% sure it wasn’t going to work, but it was his biggest secret. Had been for all of these years.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying not to pay much attention to the supposed significance of what he was doing, along with the person in the other room.

When he spoke the words, they were barely a whisper, but on his bicep he could feel a small, almost minuscule, burst of pain spreading along before it stopped.

He held his breath.

He didn’t want to open his eyes.

_ Fuck. _ Had it actually worked?

Hastily he rolled up his sleeve to see the result, and there clear as day  _ “Clinton Francis Barton. Brooklyn.” _

Letting out a slightly hysterical laugh he fell back into the chair, grin stuck on his face. 

“Well… I’ll be damned…”

He couldn’t wait until Clint woke up.

 

**“I believe in soulmates.”**

**Author's Note:**

> let me know your thoughts!  
> follow me on tumblr @/hopespym


End file.
